Plantago major. Plantain. Rib wort. *N.O. Plantaginaceae. Tincture of whole fresh plant. Tincture of the root.
Clinical
Ague. Breast, inflammation of. Burns. Ciliary neuralgia. Diabetes. Diarrhoea. Dysentery. Earache. Ear, inflammation of. Emissions. Enuresis. Erysipelas. Erythema. Haemorrhoids. Impotence. Neuralgias, of herpes. Polyuria. Rhus poisoning. Snake-bites. Spleen, pain in. Tobacco habit. Toothache. Urination, delayed. Worms. Wounds.
Characteristics
Hale sums up the ancient and modern history of *Plantago Maj. the weed which furnishes food for our cage-birds. (*Plant. m. must not to be confounded with *Musa, sometimes called *”Plantain,” which belongs to a different class, viz., the Endogens.) *Plantago has had a reputation in medicine from remote antiquity, a reputation which homoeopathy has revived. It was used in intermittent fever in remotest times. In ***A.D. 1558 the *Herbal of Dodoens commends the juice of leaves or roots for “toothache and bleeding of gums.” John Parkinson in his *Theatre of Plants (***A.D. 1640) says “the root taken fresh out of the ground, washed and gently scraped with a knife, then put into the *ear, cures the toothache like a charm.” In Switzerland the leaf fibres are frayed out and put into the ear for the same purpose, and if they relieve the pain they “turn black” (says Reutlinger) and have to be removed, if there is no relief they remain green. In domestic practice, says Hale, it is constantly resorted to as an application in all affections of the skin with irritation, pain, and heat, the bruised leaves being applied to the part. Hale enumerates the following as having been relieved by it: Erysipelas, *Rhus-poisoning, erythema, burns, scalds, inflammation of the glands (notably the breasts), bruises, incised wounds, bites of animals chilblains, frostbite. A case is related (***H. R. xi. 241) of a man who allowed himself to be bitten by rattlesnakes and cured himself by drinking the juice frequently. The tincture has been extensively proved by F. Humphreys (who wrote a monograph upon it), Heath, and others, and the homoeopathicity of its cures was clearly brought out. The neuralgic pains of teeth, ears, and face were especially pronounced. Some new symptoms were brought to light. The very copious discharge of urine along with the thirst suggest diabetes, and the laxity of sphincters has led to the cure of a number of cases of enuresis. Foul breath, sinking and weight in stomach, flatulence, diarrhoea, dysentery, and haemorrhoids, all appeared in the proving. *Plant. Is one of the most useful of *local remedies in homoeopathy, and one of its local uses is as an application to inflamed and painful piles. In all neuralgic conditions where the suffering part can be reached *Plant; O may be painted on without any fear of injury, and often with the most signal relief of suffering. In common with others, I have used it with success in numberless cases of toothache and earache, but I have also given relief in the painful neuralgia of shingles and in pleurodynia. ***F. P. Stiles (*Minn. H. Mag., v. 225) relates three brilliant cases: (1) Mrs. S., 39, for ten days had terrible neuralgic pain in right side of face, shooting into temporal, superior, maxillary, and orbital regions. *Plant. O applied locally to gums, temple, and cheek, removed the pain in a few minutes. Some days later a slight return was promptly relieved in the same way. (2) Mr. R. had neuralgia in left superior maxillary and lower orbital region of long standing. Promptly relieved in the same way. (3) Mrs. N., neuralgia of right upper jaw, pain unbearable, radiating to ear, temple, and cheek. A tooth had been extracted without relief. *Plant. O removed all the pain. “Toothache with earache,” “toothache with salivation,” are leading indications. *Plant. has a relation to tobacco. It produces disgust for it in chewers, and it cures neuralgia resulting from tobacco. The pains are tearing, boring, bruised. There is great surface sensitiveness. Pains come suddenly and are apt to be erratic. Unendurable pains. There is darting up and down the urethra. Breath and flatulence are offensive. Some *characteristics are: Loud noises going through one. *Sudden discharge of yellowish (or saffron-coloured) water from nose. The *left side was most affected. The symptoms are worse at night. better By eating (colic). worse By contact, mental exertion, by motion, heat and cold, cold air, sharp wind, heat of room.
Relations
*Antidote to: Apis, Rhus, Tabac. *Antidoted by: *Mercurius (toothache). *Compare: In neuralgias, Chamomilla, Mercurius, Spigelia, Kalm., Coloc. Unendurable pains, Aco., Chamomilla, Hepar Wounds and bruises, fetid breath and flatus, Arnica Wounds, Calen. Punctured wounds, Ledum, Hypericum Haemorrhoids, external and internal use, Hamamelis Enuresis, Belladonna, Causticum (Belladonna has irregular action of sphincter, Plant. and Causticum relaxation). Earache with toothache, intolerance of warm room, Pulsatilla
Causation
Bruises. Burns. Cuts. Punctured wounds. Snakebites.
Mind
Mind inactive, with dull, muddled feeling in head. Despondency, confusion of thought. Irritable, morose, impatient, restless mood, with dull, stupid feeling in brain. Great mental prostration, worse by mental exertion, which causes rapid breathing and anxiety.
Head
Twinges of pain in different parts of head, now through right temple, extending backward, then through occiput from ear to ear, then in other parts of head more or less severe. Severe. lightning-like stitches over left eye, extending to right 12.30 to 5.45 p.m., disappearing suddenly, involving whole forehead, and accompanied at the height with nausea at pit of stomach, better hard pressure with cold hand, worse warmth. Severe pain in left side of head, from forehead extending deep into brain, coming on in paroxysms. Intermittent pulsative pain in vertex and in small spot beneath scalp. Headache with toothache. Dull headache. Oppression deep in head, and sense of something lying in the head, through from one ear to the other. Itching of scalp.
Eyes
Ciliary neuralgia from decayed teeth, dull, heavy ache in left eye, with exquisite tenderness of ball, left upper incisor decayed. Eyes red, dim, inflamed, sore. Aching deep in orbit. Lids sore, swollen.
Ears
Pain in right ear with pains in teeth and face, pains sharp, twinging, running. Earache: neuralgic, with toothache, darting, twinging, stabbing pains in lower maxillary branch of trifacial. Pains often center in ear (left). Hearing: more acute, least noise goes through one, ringing in ears.
Nose
Frequent sneezing, with sudden attacks of profuse, watery, bland coryza. Sudden discharge of yellowish (or saffron-coloured) water from (right) nostril. Red papules round nose. Sensation at bridge as if nasal bones being pressed together.
Face
Neuralgia left side of face, pains shooting and tearing, extending from jaw to ear. Violent bruised, aching pain, right face. Drawing in right malar bone. Eruption on forehead. Small, red, rough, scaly erythematous patches size of pea on (especially l.) face. L. cheek swollen. Lips livid, dark, sickly, rough. Water bladder on upper lip. Dry, scaly eruption on lower lip.
Teeth
Teeth (left) feel elongated, sore, pain unbearably severe, boring digging in sound teeth, worse from contact and extremes of heat and cold. Aching in decayed teeth, or shooting up left side
of face, face red. Rapid decay. Sharp stabbing along upper maxillary nerve, worse by contact. Violent pain in left upper molars, sound teeth, excessive boring, digging pain, profuse flow of saliva, worse by walking in cold air and by contact, by much heat, partial better lying down in a moderately cool room, pain unendurable ( worse by *Mercurius 30). Teeth sensitive, sore. Grinds teeth at night. Gums bleed easily. Gumboil.
Mouth
Tongue coated white, with dirty, putrid, clammy taste. Foot tasteless. Breath putrid. Aphthae in children.
Throat
Dry, parched throat. Scraping in throat. Profuse secretion of (very tenacious) mucus, with much hawking. Soreness and swelling of submaxillary glands on both sides.
Appetite
Appetite poor. Thirst. Causes disgust for tobacco in chewers.
Stomach
Eructations, frequent, empty, tasting like sulphur of carbonic acid gas. Nausea with drowsiness or faint, tremulous feeling. Sinking sensation. Heaviness of stomach as from a stone, even after a light meal. Heat in praecordia with fulness in abdomen while walking in fresh air. Coolish, painful sensation, as from over-distension after hearty meal.
Abdomen
Gone sensation. Severe pains in left (and r.) hypochondrium. Distension with passage of fetid flatus. Violent griping, especially upper abdomen. Colic: better by eating, flatulent. Pain in abdominal muscles, in left and right ilia.
Stool and Anus
Stool: brown, fermented, frothy, watery, brown, watery, papescent, excoriating. Diarrhoea: loose, frequent stools with flatulence, worse 8 to 10 a.m. Before stool: colic, frequent discharge of offensive flatus. During stool: griping, tenesmus, partial prolapse, weakness, faintness. (Chronic diarrhoea. Cholera infantum. Dysentery.) Painful blood piles (locally). Angry, inflamed piles. Worms.
